American Christmas
by Around Here Somewhere
Summary: A 'Christmas Special' set in the American Prince Universe... the boys are now sixteen, a lot has changed, and a lot is going on. Fitz and Liv have worries with the boys, one more than the other...Fitz is starting to worry that one will break Liv's heart, which he's sworn to protect from everything - he's always been able to before now...then on top of it, it's Christmas time.
1. Part I

Disclaimer: Welp, it's not a product of my own imagination – well, Liv and Fitz aren't…

A/N: A Three part 'Christmas Special' from the American Prince Universe. Because I enjoy it way too much… Enjoy :)

American Christmas

Part I

"Mom!" Cameron called as he pushed himself down the hallway, "It's almost time to leave for school!"

"I'm taking you guys this morning," Fitz appeared in front of him, fixing his watch onto his wrist.

"I thought mom said last night – "

"She had to go into work early," Fitz replied as he ran his hand back through his hair, "One of the seals was sick this morning."

"Oh."

"Where's your brother?"

"I haven't seen him," Cam replied, shrugging, "I assume he's still sleeping, he was out until – "

"He was out until almost two, I know," Fitz said as he took a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling, "Alright, go get some breakfast in you, I'll go and get him up."

"Ok," Cam nodded, and Fitz held out a hand to Cam so he could head into the kitchen before Fitz headed for the stairs.

Fitz took a deep breath as he started to climb up and go find Tommy where ever he might have passed out for the night after he had yelled at him. He had never though that he would be the type of dad to yell like that, he had scared himself, but sitting up with Olivia – who was so worried he thought she might puke – just to have their sixteen year old son stroll in like nothing was wrong at nearly two in the morning. Fitz couldn't smell any alcohol on him when he was walking in, which was the only reason he hadn't been at least figuratively shot on sight. He walked into Tommy's room, and tapped the lump in the bed he assumed was his 'older' son until he heard a groan and Tommy rolled over so that he was face up.

"C'mon you've got to get up for school, you're not going to make your brother late," Fitz said, as he stared down at him, arms crossed, "And I want you right home after school, ok? Not that you really have a choice, because I'm driving you guys to and from."

"Oh, c'mon, dad."

"What did you think it meant when I took your keys last night?" Fitz asked, still waiting to see any real signs of movement, "You've had the old Audi for two months, and you've broken just about every rule that your mother and I have set out for you, never mind the law. Your mom and I talked about it, and we're taking the car from you."

"You and Mom are going to drive Cam to everything? His Physical therapy, his basketball practices?" Tommy was challenging him, and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah," Fitz said, "Or we'll hire a driver – point is, you won't be driving. And you're grounded, nothing except family events – and that's just 'cause it's Christmas. Sorry, buddy."

"How long?" Tommy asked, sitting up – Fitz shrugged.

"How long would it be taken away if the cops had caught you last night?"

"Seriously?"

"Maybe longer," Fitz said, raising his eyebrows, "Now c'mon, get up, get dressed."

"It's the day before Christmas break," Tommy rolled over, "No one goes the day before break. It's only a half day."

"You do," Fitz said sighing as he headed back towards the hallway, "Oh, and give me _them_."

"What?" Tommy asked, sweeping his curly mop of hair that he refused to get cut out of his eyes – it was this reason that Olivia always said she was glad his hair was more like Fitz's than her's.

"The cigarettes, Tom," Fitz said, "I could smell them on you last night, I just didn't want to upset your mom. Happens again, I will tell her. If you want to destroy your lungs, you're going to do it once you're older and your brain's already developed. Besides, I thought you quit the first time I caught you."

"I'm stressed out," He said, rolling out of bed and fetching the pack from his jeans.

"You're sixteen and you live at home," Fitz said, "What could you possibly be so stressed out about?"

Fitz got back down to the kitchen with his briefcase, and Cameron was still eating. He was looking at the back of the box, something to do with some basketball player that he looked up to

"Hey Dad, mind if I have a friend over the house after school?"

"Sure," Fitz said, sipping his coffee, "Just make sure they're leaving before everyone comes over tonight for Christmas Eve stuff."

"Yeah, I think we're just going to watch a movie, anyway," Cameron told him as he presumably texted his friend.

"Movie?" Fitz took a deep breath, and gave Cam a knowing look, "So this is girl? Leah?"

"No."

"What happened to Leah?"

"I don't know," Cameron shrugged it off.

"Well, is it Kathy?"

"No."

"New girl?"

"Yeah," Cam replied, mostly into his cereal.

"What's her name?" Fitz asked him, but he knew he wasn't going to get it, "It shouldn't be a problem, I'll be home."

"Dad, I don't think any girl's parents are going to be comforted by the idea of you chaperoning," Cameron smirked slightly, teasing right back, "Your reputation's only improved so much –."

"It was a very long time ago," Fitz replied semi-serious, and Cameron nodded innocently, "And it makes me feel better that I'll be here. I know all the tricks…"

"Is that how you got mom?" Cam asked, "Cause let's face it, she's still way out of your league."

"No, mom took my tricks and threw them into the trash," Fitz told him seriously, and Cam chuckled as Tommy walked in, his hair now maintained Fitz spotted two diamonds in his ears, "When did you get those?"

"Last night. You like 'em?"

"You look like a -"

"Asshat? Punk? Idiot? Jerkoff?" Cam filled in, and Fitz shot him a look, not because he didn't agree, but because he wasn't helping.

"Take them out before we leave for school," Fitz said, "And give me your credit card – you two are supposed to ask before you use them for anything other than gas and food, this is the second one you didn't ask about."

"I can't they'll close," He said, reaching for his wallet without resisting, and handing him the card, Fitz raised his eye brows.

"That's the point." Fitz said, holding out his hand, and waiting, then turned to Cam, "You use language like that in the house again, you'll be grounded too. Especially talking about your brother. C'mon, let's go."

Fitz dropped the boys off at their high school, which was only really a couple miles out of the way to his office. He was beginning to genuinely worry about what they were going to do with Tommy, Cameron he understood. Cameron would bring home enough girls until he found his own Livy, who would kick him in the ass enough that he would learn. Tommy - Tommy was like a long ago version of himself that he didn't even like when he was him. But this time it was his son, his buddy. He had to figure out a better way to approach the issues that they were having with Tommy, because there was no way he was going to blow up at him like he had the night before again, but there was also no way he was going to watch Olivia fall to pieces like she had when her baby boy didn't come home when he was supposed to, and blew off their phone calls.

By about lunchtime he was feeling sufficiently like a failure in both parenting and as a husband. He just couldn't even put into words how powerless he had felt the night before when he couldn't get Tommy home, and he couldn't properly comfort his Livy. That was the killer. He knew that Tommy was smart enough, or had enough dumb-luck to find his way home. He had learned very early on that as a dad he could sense when something wasn't right, with either of the boys. He had been worried about him, but he had been even more concerned with Olivia's reaction. She worried. She was a mom. He had just wanted to make her feel ok, and he couldn't do it.

"Lauren," He walked out of his office and out into the little waiting area.

"Yes, sir?" She replied as he pulled on his coat.

"I'm going to cut out for the day, so you might as well head home early too," He told her, "Direct any calls down to Stewart's secretary, and have her call my cell with anything important. Have a good holiday."

"Thank you, sir," She smiled as she started packing up her bag.

Fitz threw his briefcase into the back of the Maserati he had bought a couple of cars since the Audi they had given to Tommy. That had been Olivia's idea, that when they were going to give the boys a car to drive around in that it wasn't a brand new one, let it sit in the garage for a while, then hand them over the keys. Fitz understood the logic, but the Audi had been his baby, and he cringed when he thought about the abuse that Tommy was inflicting upon it. He tried not to think about it too much as he drove across to head over to Olivia's parents' house. Fitz smiled as he pulled into the driveway, and the Admiral was already out there.

"Hey, kid," He said with a smile on his face as Fitz got out of the car, "Aren't I supposed to see you later?"

"Yeah," Fitz said as he and Admiral shared their per usual 'man hug', "I just wanted to talk to you for a little bit? Do you have time?"

"Fitz, I'm retired," He said, taking a deep breath, "I have all the time in the world. Unless you're here to tell me you've knocked up my little girl again."

"Nope," Fitz shook his head as he followed the Admiral into the garage, and then into the house.

"She wants another one still?"

"I don't think so anymore," Fitz said as he sat down at the island, "I think she finally heard the doctors and I telling her that it would be really bad for her. Shame, I think she wants a little girl – so she can have a little bit of an ally."

"So what's up?" The Admiral asked as he grabbed a beer for each of them from the fridge, "What brings you by?"

"I was looking for a little bit of advice," Fitz replied, and the Admiral nodded, "What would you have done if you had had a son like me? Like I was before I got to you?"

"Are we talking about womanizing, or are we talking about Karma biting you in the ass?"

"The second one."

"So Tommy then?"

"Yeah," Fitz sighed, "I just don't know how to get through to him. Get him to stop screwing around and staying out so late. You know he didn't come back until two in the morning?"

"Isn't that why kids have cell phones now a days?"

"He wouldn't answer," Fitz said, "I took away the car when he got home…"

"Good. It's a wonder he hasn't wrapped himself around a tree yet."

"I grounded him, and took his credit card."

"I don't know why you gave them to those boys to begin with."

"There's a limit on them, it was Olivia's idea," Fitz said, "They're always going to have money, by putting a limit on it, and making them at least text us before using it, they're learning how to use it responsibly – or something. It's for when they hit eighteen and get a part of their trust fund, so they don't blow it all partying in college, or kill themselves with something stupid – I just don't want to scream at him anymore."

"Introduce him to a responsible, drop dead gorgeous girl?" He offered hopelessly, "It worked for you."

"It would be nice if it worked that way," Fitz said, "I took the car away, I grounded him, and it didn't even seem to affect him. He was more upset that I was making him go to school."

"Parenting isn't always easy, you don't always get to be their friend," The Admiral told him, and Fitz nodded.

"I know."

"As much of a jackass as your father was – do you think it was easy for him to send you down here for the summer?" The Admiral asked him politely.

"My father didn't give a rat's ass about me…"

"Your mother then," The Admiral told him, "I know she wasn't always the best, but she did love you, even then. Then think about how much better a relationship you have with both of those boys. It's not easy to be a good parent – but it's worth it. He's sixteen, and you took away the car. That should be enough for a while."

"He's breaking Liv's heart," Fitz swallowed, cupping his chin in his hand.

"He's breaking your heart," The Admiral corrected him, "Well, I bet it's taking a toll on her too. But this was your worst fear, if I remember correctly. That your kid might end up like you were – but you're not ignoring it, you're not deeming it as acceptable, you're handling it."

"Right," Fitz said and the Admiral nodded.

"And don't worry too much about Olivia. She's tougher than she used to be," He said, "After all, she's been dealing with you for the past twenty-some odd years, right?"

"Right," Fitz said, nodding, finishing his beer, "I better go. I wanted to surprise her on her lunch break."

"Tommy's got more sense than he's showing, he's going to be fine, Fitz."

It was twenty minutes before Fitz was walking into the Marine Hospital with Olivia's favorite sub from the shop down the street in hand. He walked by the tanks, and by Denise as she was tossing meals into the tanks as he headed up towards Olivia's office, which had previously been Scott's. She had redecorated, of course – a lot. It was much cleaner, and much better lit now. It actually resembled an office, rather than a misused staff room, and he smiled as he walked in.

"Good afternoon, Livy," He smiled as he put her sandwich on the desk, and she walked around it, curling herself up in his arms.

"I'm exhausted," She said, and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head as she nuzzled her face into his chest.

"Well, you only got about two hours sleep," He said, taking Tommy's earrings out of his pocket and handing them to her.

"What're these?" She asked, looking at him incredulously.

"Your son's," Fitz explained, and Olivia raised her eye brows, breaking out into laughter, "I'm glad you think it's funny."

He then pulled out Tommy's keys and credit card to hand them over to her.

"And he's still grounded," Olivia checked.

"Until you decide he's not," Fitz replied, leaning in and kissing her softly.

"What the hell are we going to with him?" Olivia asked, and Fitz shrugged.

"I don't know," He said, "I've been thinking about it. Maybe we should send him to the public school."

"You want to pull him out of the Prep?" Olivia asked, and Fitz sighed.

"It's not really helping him," Fitz replied, "And it might help him get his act together if we separate him from those idiots he calls friends."

"It might help to get him away from Cam too," Olivia commented, and Fitz was a little caught off guard.

"What?"

"Cam's picture is plastered all over that school," She said, "Basketball records, announcements, a different girl coming home to hang out with him just about every four to five days."

"…Speaking of which…"

"Not again," Olivia sighed, walking over and falling onto the couch – exasperated as Fitz closed the door and took off his coat, "These girls have to know, right? That he's been hanging out with a different one of them as he pleases?"

"When one pops up that gives him a run for his money, he'll stop," Fitz said, sitting down next to her and pulling her into his arms, trying to comfort her.

"Just because that's what happened with you, doesn't mean it'll happen to him," Olivia said, sighing, "You know – I knew this was going to happen. They were going to end up with so much of you …."

"Hey, they got you in 'em too," Fitz said, kissing her temple, "This isn't entirely my fault."

"I liked Leah," Olivia mumbled as she cuddled into him, "She would have been good for him."

"…again, I'm much more worried about Tommy than I am about Cam," Fitz said, and Olivia nodded.

"Me too," She said, "Cam's just easier. And there's nothing more we can really do… he's not going anywhere or doing anything for the next four to six weeks…"

"Well at least it'll be easy for Maya to watch them next week," Fitz said, and Olivia smiled, nodding.

"I guess," She said, putting her arms up around his neck, "Tell me where we're going."

"You don't get to know until tomorrow, it's your Christmas present after all," He said, nudging her shoulder with his nose, then kissing it through her sweater.

"Fine," She said, pulling herself up by his neck and kissing his nose, "As long as it's you and me for a week, away from everything, I don't care where we're going."

"Shame," He teased her, "Not to toot my own horn, but ah-"

"Shut up," She said as she stood up, "Thanks for lunch, but don't you have to go get the boys?"

"Damn it," Fitz said, standing up, "Why did we take the car?"

"Because it was the right thing to do," She said, handing him his coat with a kiss, "Get out of here – I have a tour coming in."

"A tour? You don't do those anymore."

"We do for this group," She said, "It's all foster kids – it's a group that connects a few families in the area for the holidays. So the kids feel a little more normal, they get to see and be around other families that are like theirs."

"Oh," Fitz said, as he ducked into his coat, "I'll see you at home?"

"No, I'm going to my boyfriend's tonight," She said, completely straight faced, and his heart stopped for a second, "You are way too fun to tease. I will be home, yes. Don't forget to start dinner, Maya and Kyle will be there at three with Norah so have the boys watch her, so they can visit."

"You want to trust the boys with a three week old?" Fitz asked and Olivia rolled her eyes.

"It'll be fine. Go. Get the boys."

Fitz parked outside the main entrance to the school waiting for the boys to come out. Usually Tommy came out from the back and Cameron came from the front. He had never been sure why, but it had been that way since the year before. It wasn't too long, since he had been a tad late heading out to get them, before he could see Tommy rolling out of the front door, a little blonde walking next to him. He hit the unlock button, so that they could climb into his Porsche, popping the trunk so he could throw Cam's wheel chair into it. He got out of the car to help him out, and saw over the car just in time to see some preppy looking blonde kid punching Cam, knocking him one right in the side of the head. Fitz started to move but he was too slow because Tommy came right up, pushing the blonde kid up against the wall before Fitz could get there.

"Take Cam up to the car," Fitz said to the girl as the blonde kid struggled against Tommy, she started carting him off as Tommy raised a fist, "Stop. It's not worth it, Tom. Go help your brother into the car."

"Dad – Who the fuck punches a kid in a wheel chair?"

"You know what a little shi-"

"Watch your fuckin' mouth," Tommy cut him off.

"Let him go, I'll handle it," Fitz said, ignoring his cursing and Tommy dropped him – quite literally, Fitz hadn't realized he had him off the ground, "What's your name?"

Tommy headed up towards the car.

"Nate."

"Nate what?"

"Nate McKenzie."

"Alright, Nate," Fitz said, trying to keep in his anger, "Now you're going to have to deal with me….and your principal."


	2. Part II

A/N: Fanfiction is a great procrastination method… enjoy :)

American Christmas

Part II

Olivia took a deep breath as she finished her sandwich, and pushed herself away from her desk. She had just enough time to get down to the lobby to meet the group for the tour. Denise had, according to the schedule, just finished the food rounds for the day, so when she brought the families with the little kids around to them, they were going to actually be able to see the animals that they had come to see. She took a deep breath, and nodded to Denise as she headed towards the upper tier, where the animals that weren't quite ready for the public eye were kept. Then, the front doors opened and three families walked in. They were quite obviously mismatched, with a much wider age range than what was normal. One of the families had two kids that were clearly adopted, due to their age, and two smaller ones, one who still looked homesick. The other families were much the same, except for something – or someone small. One of the fathers was carrying a little girl, who couldn't have been older than a year and a half on his hip. She was blonde, her hair done in pigtails, with piercing little blue eyes.

"Welcome," Olivia smiled at them, then looked down and addressed the kids that were with them, "How is everyone? Everyone ready for Santa tonight?"

"Max has been _so_ excited," One of the mothers said, putting her hand on one of the little boy's shoulder

"Yeah, good ole' Santa," said another little boy, about ten.

"Easy, Nick," The corresponding father told him, and he went quiet.

"C'mon," Olivia was quick to change the subject, "Let's go see some of the animals, we just fed them so they should still be around."

"You get to take care of the animals all day?" One of the little girls asked, and Olivia smiled.

"I do."

"Do you have any kids?" Max asked.

"I have two sixteen year old boys," Olivia told him as they stopped outside the seals tank, "I've got my hands full at home, too."

"You're too young to have teenagers," The woman holding the blonde little one said.

"Thanks. I think so too," Olivia replied, smiling at the baby on her hip, than adding teasingly, "My husband's not though."

"I have to pee," One of the children announced to their respective foster parent.

"The bathrooms are off down that hall, to the right," Olivia informed them, and within about a minute, more than half the group had run off to find them, Olivia looked to the mother with the little girl, who had stayed with the rest of the kids, "I guess we should wait, huh?"

"I guess," She replied, with a little smile, "My name's Sandy – I was the one who spoke to you on the phone and arranged all this. But I wanted to thank you again for doing this. It's something they can all enjoy, and it really does help them get settled. Isn't that right, Bella?"

"She's adorable," Olivia said, she had been trying not to stare at the child.

"She is, we just got her though," Sandy said, "Just in time for Christmas, had to go and get her a few things to open tomorrow earlier. She just came to us last night. Her mother passed away a couple of nights ago, and with no family for her to fall back on, she's with us."

"Oh my God," Olivia said, watching the smiling baby girl carefully – as if she was going to burst into tears, like she knew what was going on around her.

"But we're going to have an amazing Christmas, huh Bell?" She smiled as she leaned over and kissed the top of the baby's head.

Olivia opened her mouth to continue the conversation, but her phone started to ring from her pocket. She pulled it out and looked at the caller ID before giving Bella a little smile, and looking at Sandy.

"Sorry, it's my husband," She said, starting to walk a little ways away to answer it, "I'll be right back. Babe?"

"It's Tommy," Her son's voice filled her ear piece.

"Hey, Tom," She said, as she passed one of the guest benches and sat down, "What's going on? Why're you calling me on dad's phone?"

"Dad told me to call," He said, "We're home, and he said I should."

"Give me the phone," She could hear Fitz in the background, and then she assumed that Tommy handed his phone over to him, "Hi."

"Babe," She said with a little smile, then cleared her throat, "What's up?"

"I had Tommy call because I was on the house phone with the principal of their school," Fitz told her casually, and her red flags went all the way up, Tommy could be rebellious but he had never been in trouble at school – neither of them had.

"What happened?"

"Are you sitting?" Fitz asked her, and he knew enough to take her silence as a 'yes', "Everyone's fine, there was just a little scuffle outside of the school when I showed up to get them. I'm handling it, and I'll fill you in when you get home. Everyone's fine, I just wanted to let you know. I'd be in trouble if I just let you come home not knowing."

"You would," She mused, as she looked down at her shoes, "A scuffle?"

"Some kid came up and hit Cam," Fitz said, from the way he was speaking she could imagine that he had just isolated himself from the action, "It's fine, he got one little sucker punch in before Tommy jumped on him…"

"What?"

"Everybody's fine, Livy," He assured her.

"I should come home," She replied, and Fitz sighed.

"He's fine," Fitz said, "He's got – Mia – holding ice on his eye as we speak."

"Mia?"

"Come home if you want to – I'm not going to say I don't want you home…"

"Mia?"

"She seems like a pretty sweet kid," Fitz said, "I think you're going to like her."

"I can't take liking another one of them," Olivia teased, and Fitz laughed, "But I'll be home in ten."

It took Olivia a minute to find Denise to cover the tour before she headed out. She would ask her later when she showed up for their annual Christmas Eve party how it went, and she was out the door. There was a pang of guilt as she walked out that she had committed to doing this for the kids – Bella's face popping up in her head as she left. But there were other kids popping up in her mind, Cameron specifically, when Tommy had carried him home from playing in the neighborhood because he had just about totaled his wheel chair trying to play street hockey. Tommy had explained that he had gone for a slap shot and flipped his wheelchair, crashing it into the metal goal posts that Fitz had had installed at the end of the road for the kids to play. She had cleaned out his cuts and bandaged him up while Fitz had gone out with Tommy to go and get the mangled metal and wheels.

She pulled into the driveway and Tommy was sitting outside on the step. She smiled a little bit, he didn't look very happy – but she was pretty sure that this was one of the first times that she had seen him outside when it was still daylight. He had his laptop, and could be found with it in the house ninety percent of the time that he was in fact home. She got out of the car and went over towards him, opening up her arms and he got up, letting her take him in.

"Are you ok?" She asked, as he who was much bigger than her at this point let her hold him at a distance, "He didn't get you at all, did he?"

"Naw, he didn't see me coming until I had him against the wall," Tommy replied, and Olivia nodded.

"Thanks."

"He's my brother, right?" Tommy swept his hair to the side out of his face, "Hey, I know I'm grounded, but can I like go for a walk or something?"

"Sure," Olivia said, looking at her watch, "Just be back before five and answer your phone, ok? We're going to need help."

"I'll be back in a little while, it won't take that long. Be back in like ten minutes."

"Where're my other boys?" She asked him as he started to walk away.

"Dad's in the kitchen starting to get everything out," Tommy told her, "And Cam and Mia are in the living room watching a movie or something."

"Mia? You're using her name? Does that mean you approve?"

"Not at all," Tommy smirked – his dad's smirk – as he walked away.

"Keep it in the neighborhood!" She called after him, and he threw her a 'thumbs up' over his shoulder.

She shook her head a little as she opened the door and walked into the house, which already still smelled like cookies that she and Fitz had made the night before. She kept quiet, peeking into the living room as she passed to catch a look at Mia. She was a cute little girl, she had to assume a little bit younger than the boys – not quite Cam's usual type to bring home. She was blonde, but she wasn't the cheerleader type, like the rest of them had been. He had his arm around her on the couch, but that was about it – so she didn't see the need to intervene. He looked ok, she just needed the whole story from Fitz. She walked off into the kitchen where Fitz had the oven starting to preheat, leaning against the counter looking over the school handbook.

"I don't like the look of this," Olivia commented as she put her coat down on her chair.

"I didn't get very far with the principal," Fitz said, looking up and putting the manual to the side as he opened up his arms to her.

"They're not in trouble, are they?" Olivia asked as she set her head against his chest, looking up at him as he wrapped her up in his arms, "You smell amazing, did you just cook something?"

"I took out the spice rack," He chuckled at her lightly, "No neither of them are in trouble, I made sure of that. It's the other kid. Because of the way that the school's structured, it's equal so the most he can get is detention for punching a fellow student."

"That's why we sent them there, remember?" Olivia asked, "They'd be treated the same."

"Kid comes up and punches my son – I don't care which one – and they're getting more than detention," He said, leaning down and kissing her forehead, "Especially because it was so random, and unwarranted."

"Baby, let it go – it's Christmas, the boys are fine, it's ok," She said going up on her tip toes and kissing him, "Did you notice anything with Tommy?"

"No…"

"He seems a little sad."

"He's grounded, and we took everything away except his phone and his laptop – we both know Tommy, taking away his laptop would be cruel and unusual punishment," Fitz said.

"It just seemed weird for him."

"I don't know," Fitz replied, shrugging, "Cam wants to know if Mia can stay for dinner, I don't mind driving her home. But I told him that it was up to you."

"It's Christmas Eve, her family doesn't want her for dinner?" Olivia questioned, sighing, "I don't want you to have to leave and bring her home."

"So that's a no?" He asked, and Olivia shrugged.

"If she was a regular…"

"Gotcha, I've got it," He said, leaning down and kissing her quickly, "I'll text him, so we don't interrupt any more than I already am."

"There he is," Olivia said as Tommy walked into the kitchen – Fitz didn't bother letting go of her, the boys had over the years just gotten used to them being them.

"Everything ok?"

"We were about to ask you the same the question," Fitz said, kissing the side of Olivia's head, "I know being grounded and not having everything isn't the greatest, but – "

"No, I'm ok," Tommy lied as he scratched the back of his neck, Fitz didn't catch it, "Can I help with dinner or whatever?"

"Sure," Olivia pulled the punch bowl out, "You used to like making that with me when you were little."

"Ok," Tommy gave a little smile, which disappeared as soon as Cam wheeled himself into the room, Mia coming in behind him.

"Mom," Cameron said as Olivia broke away from Fitz to check on the bandage on the side of his face.

"You didn't let your dad wrap that up, did you?" Olivia teased back at Fitz, "He never did learn how to do that stuff."

"No, the nurse took care of it," Cameron replied, with smile as she backed off.

"Mia?" Olivia reached out a hand to her, "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Grant," She gave her a pleasant, friendly smile.

"I bandaged you up once," Fitz replied, like he had been trying to come to his own defense.

"My mother fixed it the next morning, it was a sweet attempt though."

"What?" Tommy asked as he sat at the table, not really looking up.

"Well, it might come as a surprise that your mom had a boyfriend when I met her," Fitz said, coming up behind her and pulling her back in his arms while Tommy started pouring things into the punch bowl, and Cam and Mia took places at the table with him.

"I didn't know that," Tommy popped his head up.

"Yup, I was dating Aunt Abby's brother."

"He wasn't the nicest guy," Fitz said, "He's dead now."

The teenagers all burst into laughter.

"Fitz."

"Hey, don't make it seem like I should be mourning the guy," Fitz said, "As I remember it I had to pull you out of a car where he _hit_ you."

"Did you kill him?"

"No, he died wrapping his car around a tree," Fitz said, "To this day I wish I had though. Seeing as I was already in love with her, I was pretty much about to explode. However, she was hurt and that took precedence. So I brought her inside and patched her up, and told her I loved her."

"And the bandages were all messed up?" Cameron chuckled.

"The effort was cute," Olivia vouched for him, and the kids all laughed again.

Olivia watched the boys, maybe a little more closely than she normally would have until Fitz took Cameron and Mia to take Mia home before anyone showed up. She took a deep breath as she sat down at the table across from Tommy as they were chopping up some of the vegetables, Fitz had put the Turkey in a few hours before he had left, and she was with Tommy, peeling carrots while he chopped up potatoes.

"So Mia seems nice," Olivia said casually, watching Tommy for a reaction, "Do you know her at all?"

"She's in some of my classes," He said, not really looking up, "She's pretty nice. She sits next to me in Bio."

"Yeah? You guys friends?"

"Not really."

"Didn't seem like it," Olivia said, and Tommy sighed sort of loudly.

"Meh," Tommy said.

"How many classes are you in together?"

"Bio and Math class," Tommy told her, "We hang out in study hall sometimes – we run in the same group of friends at school."

"Does Cameron know that you like her?" Olivia asked, she had wanted to make sure.

He looked up, like he was going to deny it.

"No," He changed his mind, "I don't think so. But I don't think it'd matter to him if he did. It just sucks cause she's sweet, ya know. Nice. And he's just going to screw her over as always… Then she might hate both of us."

Olivia could see his point.

"You don't really bring girls by," Olivia said, "How long have you…"

"Liv!" She heard Maya call as the front door swung open.

"We can talk about this later, if you want," Olivia told Tommy quietly as she got up, and caught her sister as she came into the room.

"Where's the little one?" Olivia asked as Kyle came in behind her, carrying the baby carrier on his arm, "Kyle, good to see you – where's that baby?"

"Right here," Kyle said, putting the carrier up on the table, and slipping it back, pulling the baby out.

"Come right to Auntie Liv," Olivia smiled as she took the pink bundle of blankets, "Hello, Norah."

"She's been crying all day, maybe Fitz can work some of his baby magic," Maya said, tousling Tommy's hair, "Where is he? He was the only one who could get you to shut up when you were little."

"Which made mommy feel all sorts of loved, huh Norah?" Olivia said as she adjusted the baby girl onto her shoulder as she fussed just a little bit.

"It's just 'cause he's so relaxed," Kyle said as he picked up a knife and started helping Tommy who shot him a weird look.

"Dad? Relaxed?"

"Well, not when his son comes in at two in the morning," Olivia teased him playfully as she smiled down at the baby in her arms.

She had always wanted a little girl, and holding her niece in her arms was not helping that little inner tick. She had been so young when the boys were born, she had always thought that she would wait a while before they would try for another one. Then, of course when the boys actually arrived and all her medical problems popped up, she had put it off the table. They had their hands full with the boys – they still did, but she still wanted her little girl. She and Fitz had talked about adopting a little girl – but whenever they did something happened with the boys, and they decided to push it off. Eventually, she just decided that she was thankful for her boys – all three of them, and she didn't need another child. But then she was looking at that little girl, Bella – her heart ached for her…

"Everything ok?" Fitz asked, she was sitting on the couch with Norah, away from everyone – she hadn't even noticed that he had come in.

"I'm ok," She said, hearing her own voice crack, and he slipped around the couch, and took both of them in his arms.

"Hey," He said, leaning in and kissing the side of her head, watching her knowingly, "It's ok. Mind if I hold her for a little while?"

"In a minute," Olivia knew he was trying to protect her, that it would upset her after not too long.

"Ok," He said as he resolved to just sit there with her.

Denise showed up with Jonah within a couple of minutes, and Fitz took Norah from her so that she could go play hostess. He held her, and got her to go to sleep for a little while before her parents showed up, and Mrs. Pope swooped in on the baby – like it was engrained on her radar. Olivia kept an eye on him the whole time, imagining as she had a million times that he was holding their baby, that she would be able to watch him with the little girl that she knew he wanted deep down too. He had always wanted one, no matter how much he told her he didn't – even before they knew they couldn't do it again. She sighed as the party went on – watching Tommy as he kept to himself, and to Jonah she looked to Cam and wondered if he did know.

"Ready for bed?" Fitz asked, as they lit up the tree.

The boys had long since gone to bed, and everyone was gone. They had stayed up to put the presents under the tree. They had long since given up on the idea of 'Santa' but it was still fun for Christmas for them to put them we after they had gone to bed – even if they were too cool to put out cookies.

"Don't you miss when they were little?" Olivia asked as she was putting boxes under the tree, and Fitz was putting the smaller packages into their stockings.

"When they had those pillow boxing gloves?" Fitz asked, chuckling.

"Those were fun," Olivia said, "The legos."

"Cam's still got 'em in his room," Fitz said, as Olivia finished up, and let him put his arms around her again, "Under all the other crap that's in there."

"I want another one," Olivia breathed into his chest.

"Livy…" Fitz voice hit that low note that always meant he was trying to gently guide her towards reason.

"I know, Fitz," She said, taking a deep breath, "But there's this little girl…"


	3. Part III

A/n: Last Chapter, a little after Christmas, it ends on a happy note. I may do another story with this family, but not until I'm done with my other stories, all of which I have a goal to finish off – I don't like leaving stories unfinished, so even if I haven't updated in a while, I will finish them…Enjoy :)

American Christmas

Part III

Fitz woke up early on Christmas morning, it had been quite a few years since the boys had come hurling into the room at six too excited to sleep. It was just this time, he was the one that was too excited. After the conversation about adoption that he and Liv had had well up until two in the morning, he had not only been so excited that he woke up early, he had been too excited - too anxious to sleep. They had ended their conversation on the note that once the parents were opened, Fitzgerald was going to make a few calls and get the ball starting to rolling on getting an official meeting with the little girl that Olivia had told him about. They had gone through all the paperwork and all the screenings a year ago, the last time Olivia had brought it up.

The boys had been interviewed and they had seen a family therapist as a precaution. They weren't going to tell them anything until Fitz had met her and they were sure that they were going to go through with it. They weren't bringing home a puppy, they knew that, and they wanted them to meet her before it got all paper work and her spending weekends with them. But they wanted to work quickly - she was little, a baby. They wanted, if she was going to be their daughter, for her to be home as soon as possible it would make it easier for everyone involved if they could take her home quickly.

"We should wake the boys up," Olivia said as she rolled over, apparently just waking up.

"I was thinking about doing that hours ago," Fitz replied mostly under his breath, or at least he thought he had.

"Babe, did you even sleep at all?" She asked as she pressed her nose to his cheek, kissing it softly.

It didn't matter how many times he woke up next to her, or how many times she had greeted him that way in the morning. It was still her that got him, she snuggled up to his side and he was a goner, almost as quickly as you could snap your fingers. He could feel himself starting to lose focus, just wanting to curl up around her and lay there in bed with her all day. He pulled his leg up and intertwined them with hers so that he was holding her so tight that he knew he had to let her go. They had things to do, and they were leaving for vacation the next night. Then they could lay in bed together as long as they wanted to.

"Ok," Fitz finely said as he rolled out of bed and threw on a sweater and a pair of jeans that had been sitting waiting to be put away in his closet, "I'll get the boys, talk to Tom, and meet you down in the living room."

"Deal," She told him as she was walking over to her own, much more organized, closet.

He walked out into the hallway, knocking on Tommy 's door on the by it like a warning shot as he made his way further down the hall to Cam's room. Here, he knocked as he walked into the room and tossed a pillow at his son's head playfully. Cam jumped a little bit as he woke up, and he flipped himself around onto his back so that he could look up and over at his dad standing in the doorway. He made a face like he was confused for all of a few seconds, then started to sit up, running a hand over his head which was cut short, clean cut. He looked like Olivia and Fitz never really understood how that worked, how a son could look so much like his mother. He barely looked anything like Fitz - Tommy did, and he hardly resembled Liv. They each had little bits of both of them, but they were very clearly one taking after one parent and one after the other.

"Merry Christmas," he said, and Fit smiled with a little nod.

"Merry Christmas, Cam," He replied, "We're opening presents in ten, see you in the living room."

He headed back up the hall as he caught a glimpse of Olivia heading down the stairs towards the living room. He knocked on Tommy 's door for a second time, and this time walking in as he did so. He looked around Tommy 's newly cleaned room and sighed - it was amazing what Tommy chose to do with his time when he couldn't go out an couldn't hang out with his 'friends' all the time. He stepped up next to the lump in the bed that was Tommy and tapped him on the back.

"C'mon, time for presents," Fitzgerald said as he plopped down to sit on the end of his bed.

"I'll be down in minute," Tommy said as he sat up, clearly questioning why his father had seen fit to sit down - like he was going to have a chat with him.

"What's going on with you, Tom?" He asked curiosity coming over him as he looked at his kid, "You're not happy. You were never this kid that stayed out late and got into trouble, made your mother worry. You are and were a really great kid. So, I wanna know what's going on."

"I don't know."

"I think you do. You're a smart kid."

Tommy shrugged, like he would rather be anywhere in the world than having this conversation.

"Your mom and I were talking the other night, and we were thinking weight want to send you to public school with Jonah or at least to a different school. Woe that be something that you would be interested in?"

"Why? It's not like I'm not doing well in school - my grades haven't dropped. I'm fourth in the class."

"I know - it wouldn't be as a punishment. I'm proud of you, and your grades. We're more worried about you socially, and everything else. The idea spending you two to that specific set of schools was that you two would be treated equally. But it's not equal, and it's not fair if you're always looking after him -"

"I don't mind, he's my brother. He's my little brother."

"But it's not your job to defend him your whole life," Fitz said, "We all know that Cam can have a bit of an ego, and that it can be him into a little bit of trouble. But he's got to learn how to deal with that. It's up to you, we're not going to make you switch schools, but there's a school I found last night when I couldn't sleep that has a pretty great art program, graphic design and a fantastic English department. You could go if you wanted. Just think about it, ok?"

"Ok," Tommy said as Fitz fished around in his pocket and pulled the key to the brand new BMW that was hiding in the garage.

"Now, you're still grounded, but I wanted to give this to you anyway," Fitz said as he hands him the key, and Tommy 's eyes lit up, "And your mom said it'd be pretty cruel not to let you take it for a spin. So, after presents and breakfast you and I are going to go and get your grandma from the airport, that sound ok?"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah," Fitz shared a smile with Tommy, "C'mon, it's in the garage, let's go check it out."

Fitz had to just about run to keep up with Tommy as he made his way down the stairs and over to the garage door. Olivia was waiting by the door, a huge smile on her face as Tommy just about ripped the door off the hinges. In all the ruckus, Cam rolled himself on over and down the ramp into the garage with the rest of the family.

"Holy - " Tommy wad nearly speechless, in awe of the custom car in front of him, as he turned - mouth agape - at his parents, "How did you...?"

"Mom found your Sketchbook," Fitz said as Olivia held up the picture in his book that he had drawn - the car was perfect to the specifications, "It's all exactly as you had it. I even had to add on a few things myself last weekend."

"But he's grounded," Cam protested.

"He's still grounded," Fitz didn't want any confusion, "I just had a chat with him. He's driving it to get grandma at the airport, and then it's sitting right here in the garage until he's not grounded anymore."

"Cam, we have a little present for you too," Olivia said as she pulled an envelope out of her back pocket, holding it out to him, "It's drivers ed. We found a place where they'll teach you how to drive with hand controls. You'll get your license, and when you've gone six months without an accident or speeding ticket or anything, we'll retire the old Audi and get you your own car."

Cameron didn't really have anything to say after that, other than to circle Tommy's new BMW with him. Fitz went and showed them what he had done for it personally, and then he had corralled them back into the living room to open their other gifts. It was a frenzy of paper flying, 'thank-you's, and smiles as the whole family exchanged gifts together. Fitz smiled over at Olivia, his arm around her as they watched the boys unwrap their 'toys'. Since they were about about thirteen, their gifts had become much more technology based, and more teenager-y. Olivia had then made it a mandate that she would get them two presents that were distinctively toys. In this case, they were opening matching Nerf Guns, the other toys were more specific to the kid.

After breakfast, Fitz excused himself to call in to the adoption service that they had been looking into before. Olivia had had the name of the foster family that Bella was placed with, and he left all the information on their agent's answering machine. He had just hung up when he heard Tommy's rather clomping footsteps walking up to his door.

"Working on Christmas?"

"I just had to see about something," Fitz said, taking a deep breath.

"Oh," Tommy said understandingly, "Is it time to go and get Grandma yet?"

Fitz chuckled.

"I guess we could head out now," He said, and Tommy spun the key, on the small ring Fitz had been keeping it on, around his finger, "Let's go."

It was a quiet ride, until they reached the end of the street, and Fitz just sort of sat shotgun, and let Tommy enjoy the new car without saying anything at all. The fact that the ride was chaperoned was only due to the fact that he was still grounded. Honestly, Fitz wanted to take it out and test it, see how far it could be pushed – and if Tommy wasn't under punishment he would have told him to pull off down by the high school before getting on the highway, but he didn't exactly feel ok doing that. There would be plenty of time for that in a month or so once Tommy was off punishment. That was when he was supposed to build up the relationship, right? Maybe he'd take him to a track or something, too for some father/son bonding.

"So I think I do want to switch schools," Tommy said as he turned onto the main road, heading for the highway.

"Are you sure?" Fitz asked him, and Tommy nodded.

"It might be nice to get away from everything and start over," He said, and Fitz nodded, "I wouldn't have to be Cameron's weird brother. I can just be me, and not have to worry about it."

"You're never going to not be Cameron's brother," Fitz reminded him.

"I know," He said, "But I think you and mom are right. I think I could be doing a lot better. I don't want to be in the same school as Cameron anymore. We're too different, and that school you were talking about –Mello?"

"How did you know that was the name?"

"I've heard of it before," He said, "The art teacher wanted me to look into it."

"Ok," Fitz said, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I always assumed that you wanted me and Cam in the same schools so I could look out for him, so we'd grow up together, and I don't know – "

"You should have said something," Fitz gave him a little smile, "Why don't I arrange for us to take a tour of it?"

"Seriously?"

"Maybe we can get you in for next semester," Fitz said, and Tommy smiled as he stopped at a stoplight, right before they were supposed to get on the high way.

"Dad, can we take a quick detour?" He asked, and Fitz gave him a weird look, "I want to show you something."

"Ok," Fitz said, realizing the somewhat pleading tone in Tommy's voice.

Tommy took a left turn, and headed out towards the center of the town – it was a lot more run down than out towards the marina, where they lived. The town was weird that way, it went from the outrageously rich to the not-so in almost no time at all. Fitz spent most of his time on their side of it, and barely ever really went to the other side, but judging by the very confident way Tommy was driving, it seemed that Tommy didn't have that gap. He pulled a few lefts from the town center, and went back behind an old factory, where it looked like no one had been in about three years. The beat up parking lot was almost grown over, and Fitz hit the locks on the car doors.

"Don't worry, dad – no one's going to bother us," Tommy said, and Fitz nodded as he put the car in park.

"What're you showing me?"

"That."

Tommy pointed out the windshield, and Fitz looked. Up on cement portion of the wall, where there were no windows – and he assumed it had been a back room, there was a mural, painted perfectly on the wall. It looked like somebody had taken a painting from a museum, blown it up, and plastered it onto the wall. It was, as Fitz looked around and realized, the immediate surrounding area, only it was cleaned up. Like it was window into the past when the area was a little better off, and maybe he wouldn't have automatically locked up the car. There was a girl on her bicycle riding down the middle of the street, and it looked so real that if Fitz hadn't known he was staring at a building, he might have thought that the road continued, like an old road runner cartoon.

"I found the picture in a text book," He said, and Fitz looked over at him, "This is what I was doing when I didn't come home that night. I was almost done, and I lost track of the time."

"You – you painted this?" Fitz asked, and Tommy nodded.

"It took me a long time," He said, "But I knew if I didn't finish it in one sitting I might not be able to."

"It's beautiful," Fitz said, and Tommy smiled, "How did you – when did you learn to paint like this?"

"Classes," He said, "You and mom had me in art classes since I was six."

"Because you liked it."

"And I'm good at it."

"I knew that too. I just didn't realize –"

"It's not like I was out partying…"

"Well, it is graffiti," Fitz said, knowing that that was so far from the point that it didn't even matter, and Tommy chuckled, "But I guess I'm just going to have to buy out the building."

"What?" Tommy said, looking at him as if he'd lost his mind, "Why would you do that?"

"Because it's a shame to only have something like that in one spot," Fitz said, and Tommy didn't seem to believe his ears, "You should use the whole building if you're going to paint like that – it doesn't seem like anyone's using it for anything right now. It'll take you a while, and you'll have to do it during hours you can drive – once you're free."

"Of course," Tommy said, and Fitz nodded.

"Once you're done – maybe we can sell it," He added on, "You're going to need a whole lot of spray paint – is that what you did that with? I can get you that – and now I'm going to insist you go to that new school."

Tommy laughed.

"…there's one condition though," Fitz said, and Tommy looked over at him, "No more smoking. I'll get you the building, you can paint it up in broad daylight – I'll send you to that school – but you have to promise me you won't smoke anymore. It doesn't help your art, it doesn't make you cool. It's only going to stop you from doing everything you want, eventually."

"Ok," Tommy said in agreement, "I can do that."

"Alright, let's go and get your grandmother."

His mother, as per tradition, came to celebrate Christmas afternoon with them her plane landing at about noon, and then flew back up to New York the next morning. The boys seemed to really like having her around, even for the short amount of time. He assumed it was because they didn't really get a whole lot of family from his side. They were never really filled in about their grandfather until about a year ago, and it was simply left at 'he wasn't pleased when we were married' they had let them fill in the rest with their own imaginations. Other than his mother, they had 'uncle' Pete, who showed up from time to time, but was busy living in New York with his own family, and came to see them maybe twice a year.

"Fitz," Olivia said as she walked into his office, his mother was sitting with the boys playing a card game – no parents allowed.

"What's up?" He asked as she walked in.

"I just got a call from Arabella's Foster mother, Sandy," Olivia said as she came into the room, "It sounds like news travels pretty fast in small circles – she found out you had called in about her. Listening to the story, she deduced that you were my husband, and she called. She wants us to come over so that you can meet her."

"Are we allowed to do that?" Fitz asked, and Olivia nodded.

"We are," She said, "It's allowed, she passed it by Arabella's social worker. With the age issue, the want to make sure – and since we're already all set to adopt, we already went through all the processing, she said that we were in a prime positioning. They don't want to keep kids in the system, especially the little ones. The sooner we meet her and are sure about it…"

"Ok," Fitz said, nerves running cold all over him.

Olivia was already so sure, she had met her. What if she hated him? Was afraid of him? They barely knew anything about this little girl – but that didn't matter. She had already taken Olivia's heart right out her chest, and he knew that it would be the same for him. So, for the second time that day, he was getting in the car not really knowing where it was going to take him, as Olivia read out the directions to the foster family's house.

"Hey, Max," Olivia said as they got out of the car, to the little boy that was playing with what looked to be a new truck in the front yard, "Where's everyone else?"

"Ms. Sandy's in the house with Arabella, Nick and Jen went to the store with Mr. Louis," He said, and Olivia nodded.

"Thanks, Max."

"He go to the tour too?" Fitz asked, and Olivia nodded as she took his hand, and knocked on the door.

"Olivia," Sandy answered the door with a baby that he had to assume was Bella, "Come in, come in."

"Hey," Olivia said, with a smiled, and Fitz could see her just beaming at the little girl.

He understood the feeling, she had an interesting pull, and the way those little blue eyes were sizing him up made him smile. She was smart, he could tell, he could practically see her little mind working, trying to figure out their presence, whether she could trust them.

"This is my husband, Fitz," Olivia said, and Fitz smiled as he reached out and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you," Fitz said, shaking her hand, not taking his eyes off of the baby girl – his baby girl.

"Alright, I'm supposed to supervise you guys, but we can go into the living room and you guys can play with her for a while."

Fitz followed her into the room, and he could almost see Olivia's amusement as he sat down to be on Bella's level. She was clinging to Sandy's leg, clutching a doll that Fitz knew had to be one that she had had when she got there. From what Olivia had told him, she had had a rough couple of weeks.

"That's such a pretty doll," Fitz told her, and she shied back a little bit, "Does she have a name?"

"She hasn't spoken since she got here," Sandy said, sitting down on the couch with Olivia, leaving Bella to hide behind the coffee table, "Her doctor's records say she was at normal development before the accident with her mother. Some kids just adjust better than others. She should be saying two to three words at a time. "

"Can I see her?" Fitz asked, careful to keep his voice quiet, and kind as the little girl just stared back at him, "She's really – "

He spotted a stuffed animal by his foot, it was a little tiger, and he put it onto the coffee table near him.

"Has she happened to lose her pet tiger?" He asked, and the little girl gave him a quizzical look, "Lots of princesses have pet tigers…She might miss him."

The little girl smiled, and put her doll up on the table with the tiger as Fitz picked up the tiger, and made it 'lick' the doll's face like a dog would a child. She giggled.

"I'll be right back, I just have to check on dinner," Sandy said as she headed out, smiling as she crossed the rather open floorplan to the kitchen side, she could still see them, technically.

"Liv," Fitz said, as Bella walked around the table, and sat down between where he was sitting, and Olivia's legs off the couch.

"Yeah, babe?"

"I'm sorry, we're going to have to reschedule our vacation," He said, looking over his shoulder at her, "I think we need to make sure that we have our little girl with us first."


End file.
